Table 1.

Guiding principles for involving patient and public contributors in implementing research.

1	Start small and take time to invest in relationships	Start small and early and allow time for recruiting and setting up a public involvement group. Encourage public contributors to be involved in the implementation of research by firstly building relationships with people who would have a personal investment in the research output – for example they have direct or indirect experience of the health condition or are involved with a charity who would benefit from the innovation. Consider recruiting people from a range of backgrounds or with different experiences: there is richness in diversity.
2	Identify champions	Engaging early adopters to be clinical, academic, or public champions can be beneficial as they can spread the word to other individuals and groups. A stakeholder mapping exercise may be helpful in identifying key people, relationships, and networks (an example can be found in Supplementary Figure S1)
3	Create a clear role description	Think about who you can involve, what knowledge and experiences are important to the implementation phase of your project, and how working in partnership with public contributors can add real value to your project. A complement of diverse skills, knowledge and experience is beneficial in defining your role(s).
4	Plan ahead	Ensure funding for public engagement time has been accounted for. (e.g. https://www.hra.nhs.uk/about-us/news-updates/new-guidance-easier-payment-public-research-contributors/). Involving members of the public can be time consuming and can create unexpected diversions to the plans you had in your mind. Factor this into your overall project plan, be flexible and allow room for potential change.
5	Align expectations	Set aside time to discuss public involvement in implementation and reach a shared understanding with everyone in the team about expectations, from both sides.
6	Create a welcoming environment	Create a non-hierarchal environment in which everybody can express their views, feels that their opinions have been listened to and acted upon, and can contribute to shared decision-making. Allow plenty of time for team members to get to know each other and be comfortable in expressing their ideas and opinions e.g., starting meetings with ‘icebreaker’ activities.
7	Agree ways of working	This might be a formal ‘Terms of Reference’, but it might be a more informal list of agreed approaches. Everyone must agree to these, and it can be helpful to remind people of these at the start of meetings. Be flexible and adaptable
8	Communicate clearly	It is important to encourage all team members to avoid jargon/acronyms and present information clearly. Developing a glossary and an ‘acronym buster’ for all team members to use is a helpful way to clarify any scientific or medical terms identified by the panel to be unfamiliar to them.
9	Support meaningful involvement and engagement	Co-design and co-production principles can help engage all team members collaboratively and ensure equity by supporting a culture of ‘working together’ and ‘shared decision making’ [34].
10	Provide evaluation and feedback	Set aside time to incorporate regular evaluation of the impact of public engagement on the implementation process and provide opportunities for public engagement members to provide and receive feedback on their role to achieving implementation objectives. Evaluation of the impact of public engagement on implementation should take place throughout the project and not just at the end.
11	Report and share the public engagement experience	Identify opportunities to share and disseminate the involvement of patients and/or the public in implementation to relevant target audiences in collaboration with public engagement. The Guidance for Reporting involvement of Patients and the Public (GRIPP2) checklist, an international framework for reporting public engagement should be considered at the start of any project [3]